NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Tensioning shades on a Plath
From: Brad Morris
Date: 2017 Jul 9, 15:32 -0400
From: Brad Morris
Date: 2017 Jul 9, 15:32 -0400
Hello Carl
You can of course, approach Plath directly, they may stock the tool.
Alternatively, any competent machine shop can make you one our of steel.
Brad
On Jul 9, 2017 11:15 AM, "Carl Herzog" <NoReply_Herzog@fer3.com> wrote:
I've got a couple different Plath sextants whose index shades, through heavy use over extended periods, have gotten loose to the point they now have a tendency to not stay out of view -- flopping back down when the sextant is being used.
Tensioning the shades, or removing and replacing them, seems to require a propriety pin wrench that I can't find anywhere. Anybody have any alternative methods and tools? Or is there some other obvious solution that I'm overlooking?
This has been an ongoing problem, and a few years ago, I found a hobbyist who had manufactured his own solution. When I inquired, he kindly made another and sent it to me. Unfortunately the pins didn't last long. They sheared off negotiating a particularly tough one.
Carl